Adaptation – it’s that word that gets tossed around almost incessantly in the business world when decades-old companies dish on their keys to longevity.
And when the going got tough, business expert Jeff McNicol truly embraced the concept of adaptability and applied it to his own professional life.
As one door closed and his family’s company, Allied Ready Mix, was sold in 2018, another door opened as nearby Jeffersonville, Indiana establishment Maxwell’s House of Music coincidentally extended a hand, offering to make him a business partner. He was hired as a half-partner in September of 2019.
Now united under one roof, Maxwell’s serves Southern Indiana musicians better than ever before.
“My family’s concrete business was sold at the end of 2018 and I was looking at starting something music-related on my own. [Owner] Mark Maxwell had heard that I might be looking for a new opportunity and gave me a call inviting me to the store. I really had no idea what he wanted and thought he was just trying to sell me a guitar,” McNicol shares. “We met in early July [of 2019] and he informed me that after many years on his own he was ready for a partner: someone to help him with his vision of being the best music store on the planet. Mark is also a gifted songwriter and this move would enable him to focus more time on writing, something he has a tremendous passion for.”
Maxwell, store owner and the other half-partner says, “I’ve literally grown up in a music store. It’s so exciting that it keeps evolving, growing, and beating all my expectations. I attribute that success to all the great people in my life – especially our staff and teachers. Bringing Jeff in as my business partner is the logical next step of this evolution.”
“This partnership is a win-win situation for Kentuckiana,” Maxwell adds. “The additional resources, skills, experiences, and relationships Jeff brings to the table exponentially increase our ability to keep our promise of ‘We Create Musicians.’ That’s what we’ve always done, and now it’s what we can do even more effectively with Jeff guiding this ship with me.”
It didn’t take long for the two gentlemen to see the benefits of uniting their business and MI knowledge under one company. According to McNicol, both his family and the Maxwells have been “closely related in the Louisville music scene for over 50 years.”
Both Jeff and Mark’s fathers performed and recorded music together as far back as the 1960s, and their fathers were friends until McNicol’s father, Steve, passed away in 2018.
“We discussed the possibilities of this partnership and, without a contract, we decided to get right to work,” McNicol says. “I don’t think either one us envisioned things moving so quickly, but it felt natural. I came in and did a business evaluation over a period of a few weeks and determined that there were several revenue streams that had potential for tremendous growth.
“I felt as though I could contribute, so I said ‘yes’ to a 50/50 partnership. I worked closely with staff for several weeks, observing them in their working environment. I could see that they were dedicated and valuable employees and that I would be honored to work alongside them.”
Together, they form a dream-team with decades of business experience combined. If anything, Maxwell and McNicol can better serve the nearby music communities as one entity than two separate ones. “Together, Mark and I will craft the vision of the future for Maxwell’s House of Music,” McNicol affirms.
“Mark has spent most of his life in music retail, he is also the lead singer of one of the region’s most popular acts, The Crashers,” he explains. “Mark is and has always been a musical ambassador for the all of Louisville and Southern Indiana. I’ll provide an outsider’s business knowledge and experience at managing and motivating people. Encouraging people of all musical abilities to come play be happy is what we do best.”
In addition, Maxwell himself worked at Maxwell’s House of Music for 15 years before it even had its current moniker. Prior to 2011, the store belonged to his parents and was called Mom’s Music. Maxwell bought the store from his folks nine years ago, renamed it, and remodeled it in almost every way possible: he updated the building, ordered totally new gear for his stock, and shifted the store’s concept to have a more “home” feel.
McNicol’s life is heavily steeped in the music biz, too. His father Steve McNicol was a member of the Louisville band The Rugbys, who garnered a Billboard hit “You, I” in the late 1960s. Before starting his own band, The War Hippies, he worked with his father as a sound and lighting engineer. After performing across the country (primarily the Southeast) he still is active in the band to this day.
In the new position, McNicol is involved in all day to day operations and works in the areas of budgets, branding, growth, and development. His wife, Whitney, is also now involved in the Maxwell’s House of Music family, working as the head of accounting.
As of 2020, Maxwell’s has seven full-time employees, 22 teachers, and over 400 weekly students in their education program. Unsurprisingly, that massive number of students makes up almost half of Maxwell’s House of Music’s overall revenue.
“We continue to grow these [educational] programs in our 12,500 square-foot facility that includes 14 teaching studios, two in-building full concert halls, two plug-and-play rehearsal rooms, and a spacious showroom,” McNicol explains.
Major brands that the shop considers to be mainstays include Fender, Paul Reed Smith, Gretsch, Yamaha, Jackson, Pearl, Audio Technica, Washburn, Line 6, and Blackstar. Most recently, the store has been capitalizing on acoustic drum sales.
“We have been able to recognize and take advantage of a resurgence of acoustic drum sales,” he adds. “We recently purchased multiple sets of Pearl drums thinking we would have enough to last through 2019. We were wrong and sold 85 percent of our inventory in less than a month and had to reorder before the holiday. [It] goes with the old saying, ‘they can’t buy it if you don’t have it.’ ”
Celebrating the new partnership in 2020, Maxwell’s focus remains on growing their already-booming educational opportunities. On top of the basic music lessons that the store offers, Maxwell’s also has an innovative youth band program called Backstage Pass, where students “form a band and have a dedicated coach who will prepare what to expect in the music business as well as playing live gigs,” McNicol says. The shop is also planning to revamp their “Weekend Warrior” adult band program, where local musicians start one band every quarter to perform a themed concert.
At the core of all these initiatives in a new concert venue, which benefits from a different partnership – the start of The Clark County Opry within their own store. The venue celebrated its grand opening in January and now offers seating for roughly 200 people, giving the concertgoers of Jeffersonville a new place to gather, offering accessible live country, bluegrass, and folk music.
“We hope that this will introduce a whole new audience to our store and create demand for different types of instruments,” explains McNicol.
But more than anything, the venue and bolstered education and music-making programs signals not only a sense of optimism in the music world, but a willingness to serve the industry as a whole. Most recently, McNicol doubled down in the MI world, and purchased the Louisville, Kentucky location of Mom’s Music, also formerly owned by Mark’s parents.
“I analyzed the overall economy and the overall health of the music industry,” McNicol affirms. “With a strong economy we believe people will have more disposable income and this will allow more to get involved with music. We believe that we very well could be on the precipice of a musical revolution.”
And as that musical revolution unfolds, the Maxwell’s House of Music team will be right there, fueling it.
